Traditional and Vernacular Building

The traditional and vernacular buildings constitute a major section
of built heritage in India. They are the ones which highlight the empirical knowledge
of the materials and construction techniques. Moreover, these buildings form a
physical compendium of the rituals and culture of a civilization and its
people. Vernacular buildings consist of all the buildings which use locally
available materials to address the local needs and surroundings. These
materials range from stone to bamboo, earth and wood; helping create a region
responsive architecture. These buildings are constructed by local craftspeople,
using indigenous technologies which have evolved over the years. The principles
of indigenous building knowledge gradually evolved into more refined systems
which, over time, have resulted into the development of various traditional building
typologies. The traditional buildings show enhanced use of the locally
available materials and are an embodiment of the social systems. While the vernacular
buildings show a simplistic construction system with minimal expressions of the
society, the traditional buildings show a developed style of construction and
expression. Both the building typologies represent the prevailing social and
cultural systems.

The traditional
and vernacular buildings are built in response to the macro-climate and the surroundings.
These buildings are in harmony with the local surrounds, and blend with the
natural and physical environs. The buildings showcase an optimum use of local
materials, giving them natural colour and texture; making them congruous to the
natural topography. The traditional and vernacular buildings also respond to
the neighbouring houses, both visually and spatially. The local craftspeople
play an important role in the making of these buildings. The craftspeople, over
the years, have responded to the individual needs of the buildings and
developed indigenous construction techniques and innovative material usage. The
empirical knowledge systems, developed through frugal innovations, make the buildings
inherently responsive to the natural calamities and climatic hazards. These buildings
are also a manifestation of the society which constructs it. They highlight the
behaviour and beliefs of the residents occupying it, which comes out through
spatial planning and expressions. Apart from these, the built environment also imbibes
the religious and socio-cultural belief of the community.

India, with its geographical diversities, showcases a wide array of traditional and vernacular built forms. In today’s
time, our country is constantly undergoing a change in the built environment
and the related building technologies. These changes are brought upon by the
rapid globalisation, gentrification, mass urban housing, technological
advancements and the global environmental crisis. In this scenario, the tangible heritage of the country is diminishing gradually and the
intangible culture associated with it is also losing its value in today’s
lives.
Because of these reasons our settlements have lost their distinctiveness. The buildings
within these new settlements end up looking similar everywhere and without any
contextual response. Moreover, as the newer building technologies used in every
part of the country are largely same, they overlook the specific climatic and
geographical needs of the place. This makes the buildings more prone to the
various climatic hazards. Thus, the need of the time is to develop sustainable
building systems by combining valuable lessons from our built heritage with the
modern systems. In such a scenario, it becomes imperative to understand and
imbibe the virtues of knowledge systems found in the traditional and vernacular
buildings. The traditional and vernacular buildings are responsive, coherent
and indigenous which make them distinct and sustainable. Hence, there is an inherent need to develop a database of these
buildings and its different aspects, and to understand and
revive our traditional knowledge systems.

Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre (DICRC) recognizes the need
for studying, recording and utilising local understanding of building crafts
incorporated in the traditional and vernacular buildings. DICRC’s main
objective is to identify,
research and re-engage traditional building crafts and integrate them in the
current Interior- Architecture education as well as practice through various initiatives. The underlying intention is to combine crafts related
to built heritage to explore their possibilities in current milieu.

With this
intention at the forefront, researchers at DICRC has initiated various
activities to identify, document, analyse and disseminate the data pertaining
to the traditional and vernacular buildings. One of the ways towards a holistic identification method involves the
project of mapping these buildings, along with the elements. The process of mapping the numerous buildings, interior
architecture and furniture elements also includes the associated Space Making
Crafts (SMC) and Surface Narrative Crafts (SNC). This process of identification
happens through the process of Building Mapping. This process is real time in
nature and the recorded data is then displayed through an interactive online Building
Catalogue and Building Map. DICRC also records and investigates the traditional
and vernacular buildings and comprehend the building practices. This is
achieved through the on-field measure drawing of every
detail of a selected building including the architectural form to the smallest
interior details. The data generated through the on-field documentation is
converted to detailed and precise vector-based drawings, which form a part of Traditional
Building Portfolio (TBP). These portfolios help understand the material usage
and the construction systems, along with the most elaborate information of interior-architecture and furniture elements. This is
done to understand the local craft applications and how the empirical knowledge
systems have been used and innovated through the ages.

At DICRC, answering
the need of the lack of substantial educational material about the traditional
and vernacular buildings is a vital criteria. Thus, all the documented data is
analysed and disseminated using print and online mediums. The data which forms
part of the TBP is further used for analysing and interpreting the elements and
associated SMCs and SNCs. This final
step of analysis then gets disseminated through Building Interactive Kit and Building
Element Manual. The Building Interactive Kit is an online educational
application aimed at generating awareness regarding the traditional and vernacular
buildings. The kit provides a holistic
virtual experience of the buildings with respect to their context,
architecture, elements and the traditional knowledge systems incorporated in
them. The complete outcome is intended to reach design professionals,
conservationists, academicians, and students as well as crafts people. The
Building Element Manual is a set of data generated through the process of
analysis of the interior architecture and furniture elements within the traditional
and vernacular buildings. The elements, created by skilled craftspeople, are
analysed in order to understand the embedded knowledge systems. A particular
element is understood not only through its form and articulation but also
through aesthetics, usage and process of making. The research work is also disseminated through various forms of
publications, namely books, exhibition panels and fieldwork reports. These endeavours have their relevance as educational materials in architecture
and design schools along with developing a manual on vocabulary of building
crafts for both – craftspeople and designers.